


Have a little more fun

by Blue_Daisies_In_The_Shadows



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dark, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bad Parenting, Blood Magic, Blood and Gore, Dark Magic, Dark Past, Demons, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Eventual Jack Frost/Pitch Black, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Games, Giants, Hurt Jack Frost, Hurt Pitch Black, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Jack Frost and Pitch Black as Allies, Jack is a Little Shit, Magic-Users, Man in the Moon Being an Asshole, Multi, Older Jamie, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Abuse, Past Character Death, Past Violence, Protective Pitch Black, Vampires, Violence, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-30
Updated: 2015-12-13
Packaged: 2018-04-28 21:23:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 19,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5106206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue_Daisies_In_The_Shadows/pseuds/Blue_Daisies_In_The_Shadows
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pitch is a vampire king that just wants to bind a warlock.  Free magic to use against the guardians who are so insistent about protecting his food source, what could go wrong?  Unfortunately for Pitch, said warlock is far from cooperative.<br/>Jack is a warlock that just wants to spend his life having as much fun as possible.  Freedom is his only goal in life, unfortunately a very stubborn vampire king is insistent about binding him.<br/>The clock is ticking for both in more ways than either can imagine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Dungeons and Warlocks

**Author's Note:**

> Not beta read, feel free to point out any mistakes. Also a work in progress so updates will be slow and random. Hope you like it though.

Several thousand years of feuding was enough to wear anyone down. On top of it the other leaders were now in an alliance, as guardians of humans! What was so important about the humans that they could draw together some of the most powerful creature alive to their defense? North, the half-giant outcast of the… north adored them even though half his blood literally ate the humans like any other species they could get their hands on. How North even existed was beyond the dark king. The fairy queen was at least more reasonable of a choice for a protector of the weaker species. Her kind were naturally healers, so he couldn’t fault her for wanting to minimize the bloodshed. Bunnymund though, was a were! His species ate the hearts from all creatures, humans in fact were supposed to be particularly tasty. That at least he could understand. The humans have good flavor part, not the eating hearts part. He wasn’t an animal. That left the last member of the new group, someone who was the same creature as him and yet wanted to protect their main food source. What Sandy saw in them was certainly beyond him.  
This all lead to an unfortunate conclusion though. It was currently four against one and the dark king was terribly outnumbered. He was already losing his fearlings and the rest of his subjects were not faring well. This all lead him to his current situation.

Pitch Black, the Nightmare King and oldest vampire alive, was presently entertaining a warlock.

-

It had been a spectacular idea at the time.

“Hey, hey!”

Just kidnap a warlock and force him to bind to Pitch.

“Heeeeeey!”

Pitch would control him and could use that magic to at least even out the playing field at little. With a bit of careful planning he could actually win.

“Vampire!”

Of course he had to be brought the most annoying, stubborn warlock in history.

“Pay attention to me!”

“What do you want now, child?” Pitch growled.

“Well, first I’m not a child. I told you my name, it’s Jack.” The warlock replied.

“And yet you look like a child, therefore…” Pitch said.

“And you still kidnapped me.” Jack pointed out.

“I asked for a warlock, not a whinny brat.” Pitch snapped.

“Shame you got both.” Jack laughed. “You could always just let me go, you know.”

“No.” Pitch replied shortly.

“Why not?” Jack asked.

“Loathsome as it is, I still require your assistance.” Pitch sighed.

“Well, I’m not bonding with you.” Jack shrugged. “I’d be happy to help you out with a spell though. I’m good at blizzards or I can turn your wife into a frog!”

“I have no wife for you to turn into a frog.” Pitch replied, rather annoyed.

“You seem like a doom and gloom kind of guy, your majesty. You should lighten up some.” Jack laughed.

“And you should be more concerned over serious matters.” Pitch snapped.

“Naw, that’s way too tiring. I’m good times and fun to be had.” Jack grinned.

“You’re an annoyance.” Pitch snapped.

“That you want to bond to.” Jack rolled his eyes. “Do you even know what that means?”

“You would have to obey me.” Pitch stated. “I’d control you’re magic.”

“No, you could lock it up, my magic is still mine.” Jack replied.

“You would belong to me then.” Pitch amended.

“In a way.” Jack allowed. “But you have to make a sacrifice to form a bond as well.”

“The ritual never said anything about…” Pitch began.

“The ritual is for new warlocks, I’m different.” Jack grinned.

“I don’t believe you.” Pitch replied.

“That’s your own fault.” Jack shrugged. “Either way you can’t do the spell without my consent. It’s a lot like…”

“I’d prefer if you didn’t finish that thought.” Pitch interrupted.

“I was going to say any complex magic, what were you thinking?” Jack lied, his smirk making it obvious.

“What do you want in exchange for helping with the spell?” Pitch asked, point blank.

“Sorry king, I’m a free spirit.” Jack shrugged, lounging back in his cell. “I value my freedom and I’ll never get that back if I bind with someone.”

“And you’ll never get it back when you’re in here.” Pitch snarled, stepping towards the bars angrily.

“If you’re so desperate to get my help, I have a feeling that’s not the case.” Jack replied with a small smile. “But, like I said. I’d be happy to do a different spell or two if you let me out of this cage.”

“That’s not what I need.” Pitch said. “Let me know when you change your mind.”

With that Pitch left his dungeons and locked the door leading out to his castle, leaving the young warlock in an icky darkness.

-  
Jack had been having a fantastic day. He’d flown around and brought snow with him, ice magic was his favorite after all. Just when he’d been wondering if he should drop a blizzard into the spring kingdoms to piss of one of the kings someone had decided to throw him through a tree. Not even into a tree, no he’d chucked the warlock hard enough to go straight through the tree. Then before Jack could figure out who he’d pissed off this time he was handcuffed and being dragged off through the woods. 

Now sitting in the dark king’s dungeons, fittingly in the dark, Jack was rather upset. He’d tried to freeze off the cuffs several times, but he couldn’t touch his magic for some reason. The cage he’d been thrown in wasn’t helping, not only was he cut off from his magic but the cage was slowly draining his reserves. Just because he couldn’t use his magic didn’t mean that he couldn’t feel it draining away. Just that a glass was he couldn’t break was becoming its own form of torture.

That was bad news for Jack particularly, actually that was bloody horrible news for Jack. Most warlocks would be weakened, which he assumed was the king’s intention. Jack wasn’t most warlocks though. If his magic was all drained away Jack would return to his normal state. That was absolutely not an option. He refused to go back to that, he’d worked far too hard to get where he was to fall back to that.  
That didn’t leave Jack many options. He could do what the dark king wanted, but Jack wasn’t lying about the bonding being different with him. Most warlocks were tricked into bonding and basically became servants or even slaves. It was the cost of magic and why they tended to be solitary beings, untrusting of basically everyone. In Jack’s case his magic would be locked up essentially. It wouldn’t hurt him at all, he would just be unable to use it. Basically it would be in a box that only the king had the key to, but once the key was handed over Jack could do any spell he wanted no matter what the king said until he took the key back. 

Jack wouldn’t be a slave, he’d be a prisoner and while that was slightly better it was still unacceptable. Jack had wanted magic for the freedom it brought, he refused to be bound to a single person for all his life. That was of course the other catch he hated, one that actually applied to him. If the king died he’d take all of Jack’s magic with him and Jack would be left as…

No, bonding was not an option either. That left sticking it out and trying to escape. While he had no doubt the king’s enemies would likely attack eventually he could in no way wait for them to. He didn’t have time to wait on the carvery. That meant it was up to him to figure out a way well, out of this cage at least. Jack sighed and slipped down against the wall, nearly able to hear the clock ticking away…


	2. It's all just fun and games

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pitch is having no luck convincing Jack, so he goes to extremes only to be offered a bet...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I lied. Still a short chapter, but I wanted to get something out in honor of my favorite holiday. As always, not beta read so please point out any errors I missed.

Pitch was becoming, unfortunately used to his daily time spent in the dungeon. His warlock was a stubborn creature that absolutely would not give in no matter what Pitch tried. Pitch had tried being nice, offering a new room with an actual bed instead of the cage. He got an extended bird metaphor that somehow became a “so that’s why you should free me” speech from his captive. He had offered riches and jewels, he was a king after all. He got a lecture on the beauty of nature that somehow became a “So that’s why you should free me” speech. Pitch tried offering women and men after the flirting earlier, only to be told that “He could find his own partners just fine, thanks,” that shortly lead to a “I can show you, so that’s why you should free me” speech. Pitch even offered the many spell books in his massive library only to be told that Jack had his own and if Pitch just let him go Jack could show him and “So that’s why you should free me”. 

Pitch was, reasonably, getting a little desperate at this point. He hadn’t really wanted to hurt the warlock as that could cause complications later. It would be so much easier if Jack just agreed peacefully, but Pitch was running out of ideas.

Currently he stood in front of the thick iron door leading to the prisons, determined to start actually being cruel. He was the Nightmare king after all and warlocks could survive quite some time without any food. Walking up to the cage Pitch was unsurprised to find Jack grinning down at him, but was surprised to see how tired the warlock looked. It had only been a week, but then maybe the warlock’s lack of magic at the moment was taking more of a toll on his prisoner than Pitch thought.

“Hello your majesty, come to offer me more riches or…” Jack began weakly.

“No.” Pitch interrupted.

“No?” Jack questioned roughly. “Then to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“No bond now means no food.” Pitch stated somewhat guiltily. 

The teen hadn’t looked so bad yesterday, had he? The bags under his eyes certainly hadn’t been there, yet now it almost looked like he had two black eyes. His voice hadn’t sounded like the warlock had taken to swallowing glass yesterday either. Even his eyes looked a bit dimmer.

“If you’re not going to listen to reason then I have no choice but to…” Pitch continued.

“Starve me?” Jack asked. “I wondered why breakfast never showed up. Ever so glad that mystery has been solved, it was really beginning to annoy me.”

“Is everything just fun and games to you?” Pitch snapped, the warlock taking no time at all to make the king forget about his appearance.

“Yes.” Jack said simply. “There’s no point in taking life seriously.”

“Let me know when you get hungry.” Pitch growled as he turned around and stalked towards the iron door at the end of the room.

“Do you want to make a bet?” Jack suddenly asked.

Pitch paused and looked up at the warlock who was smiling down at him.

“Depends on what it entails.” Pitch responded slowly.

“We play a game, any game you’d like as long as its rules allow for an even playing field. After all, I can’t play tag in here.” Jack smiled. “I win you feed me like normal for the rest of today. You win and I’ll bond with you.”

“Deal.” Pitch said immediately.

Jack smiled happily down at the Nightmare king as Pitch grinned back, both confident in their victory.

“What do you want to play?” Jack asked.

-  
Several minutes later a chess board was sitting in front of the two players. Jack had temporarily been let out of the cage as no table could reach it, but the handcuffs were still on. Pitch had also tied his ankles to the chair Jack was sitting in with his shadows.

Jack didn’t seem at all surprised with Pitch’s choice, in fact he had laughed at the king’s “Stereotypical” choice.

Jack took white, saying black was more to the Nightmare king’s color while the snowy white fit him just fine. Pitch had shrugged, who went first mattered little to him, he was black more often than not anyways. 

Jack smiled and pushed a pawn two places forward, starting the game. The entire game lasted all of ten minutes and Pitch got the feeling that was because Jack was just messing around, not taking the game seriously, or even playing by a completely different set of rules. Pitch had never lost a game of chess and didn’t think there was anyone that could beat him.

Jack, metaphorically, laughed at that thought. Pitch was absolutely destroyed. Every move seemed to lose him a piece and it took no time at all for Jack to collect all of them. That’s what was so aggravating about Jack, he played chess like checkers, his goal seeming to be not a checkmate but the capture of every piece on the board. By the time Jack actually called checkmate the king was Pitch’s only remaining piece. Jack had only lost three pawns. 

“That was fun.” Jack smiled.

“How did you know I would pick this game?” Pitch sighed, having already rang for Jack’s breakfast.

“I didn’t.” Jack shrugged. “I’m good at so many games that the odds were that you’d pick one I knew.”

“Checkers?” Pitch asked.

“Same result unless you’re far better at it than chess. I get the feeling this is your best game though.” Jack replied.

“Why do you say that?” Pitch asked.

“Because you picked it.” Jack replied. “Knowing kings in general and what I’ve picked up from you, of course you’d pick the game you thought would guarantee a victory.”

“You’re right, of course.” Pitch sighed.

“You can change the game tomorrow if you’d like.” Jack said.

“Tomorrow?” Pitch asked.

“Unless you’re sure I’ll beat you and don’t want to take up the bet again.” Jack grinned slyly.

“Damn you.” Pitch grumbled, his pride refusing to let him sit this out.

Pitch was a king after all, he would beat this kid. He’d never live it down if he didn’t. Not that the brat would ever let him.

“Fine.” Pitch sighed. “Any game?”

“As long as there’s an even playing field.” Jack replied.

“I get the feeling that with you as an opponent that’s never going to be the case.” Pitch said with one raised eyebrow.

“Not what I meant, though thank you very much for the complement.” Jack laughed. “I mean, I can’t play tag in chains or if you locked me in the cage where I couldn’t really see the board for chess.”

“Hmm.” Pitch said thoughtfully.

“If it’s not fair I’d rather starve then be bond king.” Jack smiled softly.

“You’re that confident that you’ll never lose?” Pitch asked, only slightly surprised.

“Do you really need to ask?” Jack grinned.

“I’ll take that as a challenge.” Pitch grinned back.

“Oh please do, I love a good challenger.” Jack laughed. 

“I’m going to beat you one day.” Pitch said confidently.

“No you’re really not.” Jack grinned.

Pitch just shook his head and watched Jack munch down on the food that had been set before him. Again, he was struck by how sick the warlock looked. The cage should just be keeping him powerless not hurting him, although he did look better than when Pitch first walked in. The handcuffs at least weren’t the problem then. Pitch was still reluctant to harm the warlock, he was rather amusing after all, and now Pitch had a way to bind him. He just had to win one game. Easier said than done.

Jack looked up at the king with a smirk, as if he knew what Pitch was thinking.

“You’ve never given me a name, you know.” Jack said as he licked his fingers clean.

“Pitch.” The Nightmare king replied. “Pitch Black.”

“And I’m Jack Frost, nice to officially meet you, your majesty.” Jack smiled.

“Nice to meet you too Jack.” Pitch smiled back.


	3. Just stop keeping count

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack offers Pitch a new deal and makes a new friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok. So evidently I'm incapable of writing long chapters. Sorry about that. Good news is that updates should be pretty fast. And just assume it's not beta read at this point.

Jack laughed as Pitch stared blankly at his hand.

“Bastard.” Pitch groaned as he threw down his cards and glared at Jack.

“I told you, you’re never going to beat me.” Jack grinned cheerily.

“You’re impossible.” Pitch sighed. “Is there any game that you’re not unbeatable in?”

“Well, there’s probably some game that I’m not great at, but I don’t know it.” Jack said thoughtfully.

“What do you mean?” Pitch asked.

“Whenever I find a new game I play until no one can beat me anymore.” Jack replied.

“So you stop when you’ve mastered it?” Pitch asked.

“Not really, it’s just kinda boring if no one can challenge you.” Jack shrugged.

“Then why did you ask me to play games with you?” Pitch asked.

“Well, the first day I was just hungry.” Jack replied. “But, then, well. We played chess after that.”

“Yeah, you destroyed me!” Pitch laughed.

“Oh, no.” Jack said, looking surprised at the king.  “Pitch, no one has gotten that close to beating me in years!”

“I only managed to capture three pieces.” Pitch said skeptically.

“Most people can’t take to single piece.” Jack replied.

“So that’s the game I should stick to then?” Pitch asked as he gestured to their somehow very uneven hands of blackjack.

“I’m a very lucky guy.” Jack shrugged.

That was a lie though, his eyes were just better than a humans and he had mastered ways to cheat in just about any game relying on luck. Rock-paper-scissors, which Pitch had tried and failed to win, had been one of the toughest. The coordination, processing and timing had been hell to master.

“I’m sure.” Pitch said dryly as he slid Jack’s breakfast to him.

After the first week he had taken to just bringing it down himself. When Jack asked if that meant he was giving up on ever beating him, Pitch had replied that even if he won Jack would still get breakfast.

Jack was glad that the vampire king had given up starving him, but even happier that he was spending more and more time outside of the cage. It seemed that Pitch had at least noticed that the cage was far from pleasant for Jack. That was the odd thing about the king.

Jack had heard of him before of course, and his nickname wasn’t a misnomer. Pitch was said to be evil, cruel and vicious. Jack had been terrified that the king was going to torture him into compliance. At first Jack had been really scared that he was going to be yanked through hell for the rest of his existence by this man.

Now he was playing a new game every day with the bloody Nightmare king and after a month Jack wasn’t the least bit frightened of him. To Jack’s amazement he realized that he thought of the Nightmare king, no Pitch, he thought of Pitch as his friend.

He’d seen the Nightmare king at work before his kidnapping and he was far from friends with that monster, but Pitch was certainly his friend. Jack’s life was so weird- and that’s taking into consideration that he was a meandering warlock that managed to get involved in some really weird things before his kidnapping. He wasn’t going to think about that.

“You know, I kinda like you Pitch.” Jack said as he finished up his breakfast.

“That’d be a first.” Pitch snorted.

“Not many people want to be friends with the Nightmare king, I take it.” Jack smiled a bit sadly.

“To say the least!” Pitch laughed.

“I’m not friends with him though you know.” Jack said.

“Yes.” Pitch replied a bit stiffly. “I’d best be…”

“I’m friends with you though.” Jack grinned.

Pitch froze, his eyes widening dramatically at the statement.

“Well?” Jack asked after a moment of silence.

“What?” Pitch asked softly.

“Aren’t you going to say you’re my friend too?” Jack laughed.

“And why would I do that?” Pitch asked. “You’re just my prisoner.”

“Liar.” Jack grinned.

“Maybe.” Pitch replied, glancing away.

“As your friend, I’ll make you a deal if you’d like.” Jack said.

“I thought we already have one?” Pitch laughed.

“Officially. I’ll make a contract with you.” Jack said.

Pitch froze and looked down at the snowy haired warlock in shock. A contract wasn’t as binding as a bond and had an even playing ground, but Jack knew that Pitch was aware that they weren’t taken lightly.

“You’d trust me that much?” Pitch asked softly.

“You, yes. Not the king, if we do this you sign it as Pitch.” Jack said.

“What are your conditions?” Pitch asked. “Nothing I think you’ll disagree with.” Jack replied.

                                                                                                                                               - 

_Contract between Pitch Black and Jack Frost._

_Jack Frost will perform any magic spell Pitch Black requires as long as the spell does not go against his moral code._

_In return Pitch Black will never again cage Jack Frost and always treat him as a guest._

_Jack Frost will not leave the castle grounds without being accompanied by Pitch Black or in dire emergency. In case of emergency Jack Frost will always return the moment he is no longer in mortal danger._

_In return Pitch Black will replace the handcuffs with a sealing bracelet._

_Pitch Black will never harm Jack Frost._

_In return Jack Frost will never hurt Pitch Black._

_**Pitch Black** _

_**Jack Frost** _

-

It was now a joke among the guards and castle servants that the king was never without his warlock. The two always seemed to be together, Jack was even beside the king in meetings.

Jack was perfectly fine with this most days. Today was not that day. The meeting was boring as hell. Seriously, he was tempted to just fall asleep, but he knew that’d be pushing it. Pitch was fine with him hovering above the meeting and drifting about on the wind, which he could do even with the seal on his bracelet unlike most spells because the wind was his friend in an odd sort of way, but Jack was certain that the king wouldn’t be pleased if he just fell asleep above his head.

With most Jack could care less about their opinion, but Pitch was his closest friend so he begrudgingly stuck out the meetings. But, honestly, how did Pitch deal with these people…er, vampires.

Going on and on about tariffs and boarders and the bloody guardians. That last one in particular annoyed Jack. It was insulting really- that was his job, not theirs. Pitch had simply told him to use his magic to keep them out of his boarders and Jack had done that.

Jack was also very certain that Pitch had no idea what he was asking for when he asked Jack to do that. Most warlocks wouldn’t have been able to. Hell, Jack was one of the… maybe five that could pull it off. Keeping a very old, very powerful vampire out was really draining by itself and then the others too? Jack was glad that Pitch only asked him to wear the bracelet around other people. If he asked for it more, Jack wasn’t sure that he’d be able to keep up the flow of magic he needed.

He already hated that the barriers were weakened drastically when it was on. Jack had tried to warn Pitch that like this he couldn’t keep everything out, but Pitch just brushed it off.

Jack wasn’t pleased about that. Someone could use magic to leap into the castle and kill his best friend and Jack wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. Jack really liked Pitch, if he died Jack didn’t like to think about what he’d do.

All of his fears and concerns came to a head one day about six months after Jack had first been kidnapped. Pitch was leaving the meeting chamber with Jack flying about above him, bracelet in place. Jack felt it and nearly fell out of the air as he turned to scream a warning at Pitch- someone had shattered his barriers.

“Pitch!” Jack screamed, seconds too late.

Pitch was already falling to his knees, eyes locked with Jack’s. Red trickled from his lips when the king gasped before collapsing into the puddle of red he was creating.

Jack’s heart shattered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um... don't get mad. The next chapter should be up soon.


	4. Blood and Honey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack makes a drastic choice that permanently effects his relationship with Pitch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised the next chapter is up. Hope you all like it.

Jack flew to the ground, snatching the assassin’s wrist just in time to halt the killing blow. Jack’s warning was evidently just enough for Pitch to turn just a bit. The stake had missed impaling his heart, only nicking it. Jack stared into the startled green eyes as he threw off his bracelet and raised his shields back up, nothing else was getting in. The assassin whipped a blade out with his free hand and plunged it towards Jack’s hand wrapped around his wrist. Jack shattered the assassin’s wrist before the blade could touch him, leaping back and nearly forcing the assassin to stab himself in the process. 

Jack flung his hand out, aiming icy needles towards the assassin at deadly speed. He managed to avoid most of them with inhuman reflexes, but several of the shards managed to imbed themselves into his flesh. The assassin grunted in pain and began to race towards one of the wide windows in the hall. Jack pointed at it and the window nearly instantly froze solid. The assassin didn’t even slow down, simply throwing one of his crooked blades at it. The ice cracked and the assassin barley managed to throw himself through the window; tearing his forearms, knees, parts of his face, stomach and chest to shreds.

Jack leapt after the assassin, but froze as he heard a groan from the ground. Jack spun back around and rushed back to Pitch’s side, kneeling beside the king. Jack pulled his friend up to rest at his chest as Pitch coughed weakly. Jack pressed his hand to the wound, willing it to heal and while part of the wound healed and the outer layer closed up Jack could not heal his heart.

“Pitch, I can’t, I can’t!” Jack panicked.

“Jack…” Pitch whispered. “It’s okay…”

“No!” Jack shouted, looking around desperately.

Jack looked back down at Pitch, seeing no help on its way, tears in his eyes.

“I need my chess partner.” Jack choked out.

Pitch smiled softly, trying to mouth something back.

“I need my friend!” Jack chocked out as tears began to blur his vision.

Pitch reached out weakly and put his hand on Jack’s cheek, brushing a tear away. 

Jack looked down at his own hand on Pitch’s chest, soaked in blood and then looked back up at Pitch with determination. Jack drew his wrist back up to his face and suddenly bit deep into his wrist, hacking out a wound deep into his flesh.

Pitch’s eyes widened as he realized what Jack was doing and he shook his head, aware of the consequences of this just as Jack was. Jack ignored him and forced his wrist to Pitch’s lips, moving his other hand to grip the back of the king’s head and force him into Jack’s wrist. 

Pitch fought for a moment, but when the first drop of blood slid between his lips it was too late. Pitch sank his fangs deep into Jack’s wrist and drank in the warlock’s sweet blood. In moment’s Pitch’s heart began to heal and soon he was sitting up on his own with Jack curled against him. Pitch continued to drink even as his wounds healed completely. 

“Pitch…” Jack whispered weakly. “Please…”

Pitch finally jerked away, gasping as his eyes remained dilated with hunger.

“Jack.” He muttered as the king slowly came back to himself. 

He looked down at his young friend, horrified at what he’d just done.

“Jack!” He exclaimed this time, reaching down to cup the warlock’s face.

Jack looked back at him, eyes unfocused and dull.

“You’re okay.” Jack slurred.

“You moron!” Pitch shouted as he scooped the dying warlock up into his arms bridal style and stepped into the shadows, rushing to the medical bay.

-

Pitch stared down at the warlock that had saved his life sadly, as he had for the last three days. He was starving and ignoring his duties, but he couldn’t bear to tear himself away from his friend.   
This was all his fault. Jack had begged him to allow the bracelet to be removed all the time. He had said something like this was bound to happen eventually and Pitch had ignored him. Now Jack was the one laying in a coma because of him. Not to mention that Pitch had literally put him here. 

Pitch flinched at the memory of Jack’s blood running down his throat. He had nearly drained the warlock, he had lost all control. That had never happened before and now Jack was here because of his loss of control. 

Pitch hated himself. 

Pitch was pulled out of his self-deprecating thoughts by an abrupt movement on the bed.

“Jack!” Pitch exclaimed as he jerked forward. 

“Pitch?” Jack croaked as he slowly turned to look at the king.

“Oh, thank god.” Pitch sighed, reaching out to place his hands on Jack’s.

“Water?” Jack coughed.

“Of course.” Pitch said as he spun around to summon a glass of water through his shadows.

He leaned over and carefully helped the warlock get a drink. Once Jack had slowly finished the glass Pitch sat back and smiled sadly at Jack.

“Don’t do that.” Jack said. 

“What?” Pitch asked nervously.

“You’re blaming yourself, moron.” Jack sighed. “It was my choice and my fault. I can take responsibility for my own actions Pitch.”

“Jack, I don’t think you realize what exactly you did.” Pitch whispered.

“You think I don’t know what warlock blood is to vampires?” Jack laughed dryly.

“Then why would you?” Pitch asked uncertainly.

“I had no other way to save you.” Jack shrugged.

“But now I…” Pitch began. “I can’t…”

“Pitch it’s fine.” Jack smiled softly. “I don’t have a problem with it.”

“Jack, I have to feed at least every other day.” Pitch snapped, running a hand through his uncharacteristically messy hair in aggravation. 

“I know.” Jack said.

“I’ll have to…” Pitch flinched at the very thought.

“Pitch it’s really ok.” Jack said soothingly.

“No it’s not!” Pitch exclaimed. “You’re my friend not a blood bag! And I!”

Jack sighed at Pitch’s anger.

“I’m not a blood bag, but you’ll still have to feed on me.” Jack said. “After all, warlock blood is crazy addictive.”

“Jack, I’m not going to be able to feed on anyone else. Ever.” Pitch said shamefully.

“I’m ok with doing that.” Jack smiled.

“How could you ever be okay with that?” Pitch asked sadly.

“Be-because I like you!” Jack blushed.

“You, wait.” Pitch paused, eyes flaring in shock. “You… like… me…?”

“Don’t make a big deal of it!” Jack blushed deeper red.

Pitch laughed at the blushing warlock and smiled his first genuine smile in days.

“Stop laughing at me jerk!” Jack snapped.

“Oh, Jack.” Pitch laughed.

“What?” Jack snapped.

Pitch just smiled and looked down at the blushing warlock.

“Stop staring at me and…” Jack was cut off. 

By Pitch’s lips on his.


	5. The other side of the story, otherwise known as what was going on while Pitch and Jack learned to sorta communicate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically what the title says. The guardians finally come into the story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really bad at accents, so sorry about North and Bunny in advance.

Bunny stared at the map laid out across the table before him angrily. 

“How is it possible that we’re unable to break the bloody barriers?!” Bunny growled in frustration. 

Sandy formed a few symbols over his head, looking concerned.

“It’s really high level magic?” Tooth asked. “But, Pitch is a vampire. He can manipulate the shadows like your sand, but that kind of magic should be out of his control…”

“Unless someone is doing it for him.” Bunny growled.

“Who would use magic for Nightmare king?” North asked.

Sandy made a few new symbols as his concerned expression grew.

“You think he could have bound a magic user?” Tooth asked, surprised.

“How the heck would he have got ‘es hands on one of those lot?” Bunny asked.

“Perhaps he managed to trick one into binding with him?” Tooth asked.

Sandy shook his head and made another set of symbols.

“This magic user is too powerful to be tricked like that?” North translated. “Then how did magic user fall into trap?”

Sandy looked away, not wanting to answer that.

“Ye think he tortured ‘em.” Bunny said blandly.

“Until he agreed to bond with him…” Tooth trailed off, looking nauseous. 

“We must save magician then, yes?” North questioned.

“Dunno if we can, mate.” Bunny sighed. “Binding is not something ta mess with.”

“But, don’t the barriers weaken occasionally?” Tooth asked.

Sandy nodded and formed a thumbs-up sign.

“If we attack when barriers are weak, then…” North began.

“We can kill the bastard and free the magician.” Bunny finished.

“But who could actually pull it off, we’d have to leap into the palace and only Sandy can pull off that kind of spellwork.” Tooth said worriedly. 

“Sandy’ll do the spell and I’ll jump through.” Bunny said firmly.

“Bunny…” North began, uncertainly.

“The bastard slaughtered my people North, I’ve been wanten to take ‘em out a long time now.” Bunny snapped. 

“Bunny…” Tooth said softly.

“No, Tooth, I’m doing this.” Bunny said confidently.

-

Several days later Bunny got his opportunity. Sandy felt the barriers weaken and the four guardians assembled quickly in North’s home. Soon Sandy was preforming the spell and Bunny was stepping through the portal. Bunny landed behind the Nightmare king and didn’t hesitate to strike the king. 

He barley heard the scream from across the room, more concerned with finishing off the murder collapsed on the ground before him. Just as he was about to deliver the killing blow a hand caught his wrist. Bunny looked up to see furious blue eyes boring into his. The snowy haired boy threw off a bracelet and looked ready to rip Bunny to shreds. Bunny quickly whipped out a dagger with his free hand to get the kid off of him, but the kid was gone before he could connect. The kid was so fast that it actually took him a moment to realize that the bastard had shattered his wrist. The pain of that was quick to let him know though and Bunny had to slam his teeth together to keep in a scream. 

Bunny shakily glanced at the Nightmare king who was slowly dying on the floor for just a second, but that was plenty for the kid to unleash his next attack. Bunny leapt backwards, barley escaping the majority of the icy needles looking to embed themselves into him. Bunny grunted in pain at the ones that met their mark.

By now he had realized that the kid was liable to actually kill him if he stuck around, and as the king was as good as dead anyways Bunny rushed towards one of the massive windows in the hall.  
His eyes widened in horror as he saw the window freeze solid, but he refused to slow down. Instead he whipped out a boomerang and threw it at the window as hard as he could. It didn’t break the glassy ice, but it cracked it enough for Bunny to throw himself through.

He gasped in agony as cuts tore into him, nearly covering his entire front. The assassin tumbled to the ground below, grateful for the short fall, and pushed himself up as fast as he could. Bunny rushed towards the boarder as fast as he could, hoping that Sandy would yank him out of there before the crazy warlock came after him. 

It took a few minutes, but thankfully Bunny felt the familiar tug of Sandy’s spellwork and he was back in North’s hideout in seconds.

Bunny hit the ground, gasping in air desperately as he began to stain the floors a new color.

“Bunny!” Tooth screamed as she rushed to his side.

Bunny looked up at his companion and managed to choke out a single sentence before he blacked out.

“The bloody warlock is not bound.”

-

Tooth barley managed to catch her friend before he toppled to the floor, unconscious.

“North!” Tooth exclaimed as she looked up desperately at her husband.

North and Sandy rushed over, looking terrified at their friend’s state. North scooped Bunny up with quite a bit of difficulty and the three guardians rushed the forth to the medical bay. 

“Do you think the Nightmare king did this?” North asked after they had finished caring for their friend.

“I don’t think so.” Tooth replied as she looked down at her sleeping companion, so covered with bandages he looked almost like a mummy.

Sandy made a few symbols asking why she would think that the Nightmare king hadn’t done this.

“He said that the warlock wasn’t bound.” Tooth said, letting the statement sink in for a few seconds.

“Then he is helping the Nightmare king because he chooses to?” North whispered in horror.

“Apparently.” Tooth whispered. 

“What could he have done to convince a magic user to side with him?” North croaked.

“I don’t wanna think about it.” Tooth flinched.

Sandy shook his head and shivered, not wanting to think about what the Nightmare king did to twist a magic user’s mind so much.

The three guardians sat by their fourth’s bedside waiting for him to awaken. It would take four days.

-

Bunny slowly opened his eyes, flinching at the bright light. He looked around to see North passed out in a chair next to the bed Bunny was laying in. Tooth was collapsed on the floor, leaning against the bed, but Sandy was already at his elbow with a glass of water in his hand.

“What happened?” Bunny croaked after he had finished the water.

Sandy made a symbol showing a hurt Bunny and the others bandaging him up.

“Is he dead?” Bunny asked darkly.

Sandy shook his head slowly and then shrugged.

“You don’t think so, but you’re not sure?” Bunny clarified.

Sandy nodded.

“Damn.” Bunny sighed.

“Bunny, you are awake!” North exclaimed happily.

“Yep, I’m fine now big guy.” Bunny said, scooting a bit away from the large man known for his bone crushing hugs.

“Bunny.” Tooth smiled as she sleepily sat up on the end of the bed.

“Hey Tooth, thanks for patching me up.” Bunny smiled back.

“We all helped.” Tooth replied.

“Bunny, Tooth said that you say magic user is not bound.” North said.

“Yeah, mate, you should’ve seen ‘em.” Bunny sighed. “Barley looked eighteen, snow white hair and his eyes. He was livid.”

“What do you mean?” Tooth asked.

“I managed to stab the king, but before I could finish him off for sure the kid stepped in.” Bunny replied. “Broke my wrist and got me away from the king before I could react. Shot a bunch of ice shards at me and when I tried to escape he froze the window solid. I barely made it through.”

“That’s what hurt you so much.” Tooth whispered.

“Yeah, the king didn’t lay a finger on me, but the kid…” Bunny shook his head. “He looked ready to kill me for hurting the Nightmare king.”

“But how did king convince him to join him?” North asked.

“Dunno mate, but I’ve never seen anyone looked that furious. It was terrifying.” Bunny replied.

“Maybe the king is blackmailing him?” Tooth asked hesitantly. 

“Naw, mate.” Bunny shook his head. “The kid wouldn’t have been upset in that case. He was genuinely livid at me for hurting the king.”

“Then he is foe.” North sighed.

“He’s just a kid though, I doubt he knows what he’s doing.” Bunny objected.

“He’s still with the king, though.” Tooth said, siding with her husband.

Sandy remained silent, deep in thought. He had known the Nightmare king the longest, therefore he knew the most about him. This new information was forcing him to reevaluate his original assumptions. Sandy knew the king wasn’t purely evil, he had a soft side. A very, very small soft side. Sandy had thought that the king’s gentle nature had died with his wife and child. Sandy knew the king had been a lot kinder before that, after that… well he changed. The Nightmare king that everyone knew today was born after that. 

Sandy thought that just maybe, this warlock child had managed to find the Nightmare king’s heart. If that was the case though, what made this warlock so special? How did he managed to befriend the dark king?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More Pitch and Jack in the next chapter.


	6. Blood’s like sugar, don’t drink too much!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack and Pitch chat and actually communicate.

Jack was thrilled that Pitch had finally let him out of the infirmary later the day he woke up, but less thrilled that he refused to drink from him. Jack was a warlock, he healed faster than most vampires, it wasn’t like he couldn’t spare a glass! 

Yet Pitch insisted that Jack needed more time to heal, that he didn’t want to hurt him. Jack was getting really annoyed about that. He thought that he’d demonstrated pretty damn clearly how much he cared for the vampire king, yet he was being treated like glass. He just wanted to help his… lover? Yeah, Jack would go with that. Pitch was starving and Jack was determined to change that.

Jack slid over towards Pitch who was sitting at an ominous black desk going through a pile of paperwork in a rather comfy looking chair. Jack grinned impishly and plopped himself into Pitch’s lap and threw his arms around the vampire’s neck. 

“Jack, what are you doing?” Pitch asked in surprise.

“You’re working too hard.” Jack grinned.

“You’re supposed to be working too.” Pitch replied.

“I can multitask.” Jack said, holding up his empty wrist.

“I’m going to have to give you a fake one, so no one freaks out.” Pitch sighed.

“I never had a problem with the actual bracelet, Pitch.” Jack shrugged.

“You sure complained a lot for not having a problem with it.” Pitch grinned.

“That’s not what I complained about and you know it.” Jack pouted.

Pitch laughed and leaned forward to kiss Jack’s pout away to which Jack eagerly reciprocated. Jack quickly deepened the kiss, and before Pitch had a chance to pull back Jack grabbed the back of his neck to hold the king in place. 

Pitch was gonna be pissed, but Jack bit the inside of his lip anyway, letting the blood trickle into Pitch’s mouth. Pitch immediately stiffened and tried to pull back, but Jack had been prepared for that and only tightened his grip. The kiss only lasted a few more seconds before Jack had to break way for air, but he’d accomplished his goal.

Jack grinned up at Pitch who glared back.

“Why would you do that?” Pitch growled. “I could have hurt you!”

“But you didn’t.” Jack replied, whipping the excess blood from his lips.

“That’s not…” Pitch began, only to break off when Jack shoved his bloody finger into the vampire’s mouth.

“I needed to prove that to you, so I did.” Jack shrugged.

Pitch glared at him, refusing to lick the blood off Jack’s finger.

“Really, Pitch?” Jack sighed. “I’m not a delicate flower, you can bite me.”

Pitch looked up at the suggestive tone in Jack’s voice as Jack winked back at him.

“Brat.” Pitch said after Jack removed his finger. 

Jack laughed at that, seeming to find a lot of humor in that statement.

“How old are you Pitch?” Jack laughed.

“Around three thousand.” Pitch replied, curious as to where Jack was going with this.

“Thought so.” Jack grinned.

He then leaned forward and whispered a few words into the Nightmare king’s ear.

“No way.” Pitch replied in shock. “That’s not, you look eighteen!”

Jack laughed at that as well.

“I’m a warlock, love.” Jack grinned. “I can look whatever age I want… well I could.”

“What do you mean?” Pitch asked.

“It’s a long story, but…” Jack sighed. “I’m stuck looking like this. No more age changing for me.”

“What, why?” Pitch asked.

“A rather unfortunate curse I picked up a very long time ago. You don’t think I’d willingly look like a teenage for all eternity, did you?” Jack asked with a raised eyebrow. 

“Eternity?” Pitch asked looking surprised.

“Oops.” Jack grinned. “Yeah, forgot I didn’t tell you. I’m semi-immortal like you.”

“That’s not a warlock trait.” Pitch stated, confused.

“Not a common warlock trait, no. I think I’m one of about… seven?” Jack said thoughtfully. “Yeah, around there.”

“How is it possible that you just happen to be one of seven semi-immortal warlocks?” Pitch asked.

“I’m special.” Jack grinned.

“Sure you are.” Pitch snorted. “I’m glad though.”

“That I’m special?” Jack smiled.

“That you’re semi-immortal.” Pitch corrected with a roll of his eyes.

“Hmm.” Jack hummed as he snuggled up closer to Pitch.

“Cause now you can’t leave me.” Pitch grinned slightly unnervingly.

“That’s a bit possessive, don’t you think?” Jack laughed.

“Have we met?” Pitch grinned down at Jack. “I’m the Nightmare king, the oldest vampire alive and Pitch Black.”

Jack laughed at that before narrowing his eyes.

“And still hungry.” Jack said.

“Ugh, why’d you have to ruin the moment?” Pitch groaned.

“I’ll trade you, you take an actual drink and we can have a real… moment.” Jack grinned slyly.

Pitch stared at Jack in slight surprise and a bit of amusement before tilting his head to the side and gently sinking his fangs into Jack’s neck. Jack flinched a moment before relaxing in Pitch’s arms. After a moment Pitch let go, gently licking the left-over blood on Jack’s neck and soothing the wound he had made.

“There, was that so hard?” Jack mumbled against Pitch.

Pitch sat up and smiled at the warlock in his lap, licking the last of the blood off his lips playfully. 

“I believe you said something about a moment?” Pitch asked innocently. 

Jack grinned up at him and sealed their lips together.

-

Jack was leaning against the cool window, looking out upon Pitch’s dominion. The moons light was the only illumination upon the inky land, but that wasn’t a problem for Jack. He was a warlock after all- winter wasn’t the only magic he could do, just what he was best at. 

Jack glanced over to the bed where Pitch was still asleep fondly. He was surprised that the king had grown on him so much. Jack hadn’t been that fond of another person since Jamie- no!  
Jack shook his head, refusing to think of his lost family. 

He sighed and looked back out the window, mentally reinforcing the barriers. He could multitask, but only to an extent and he sure as hell didn’t want a repeat of earlier this week. Had it really only been days ago?

Jack wondered if he was moving too fast, but brushed it off. He’d wanted to kiss Pitch for months now and was thrilled that those feelings were reciprocated. 

Jack frowned as he sensed someone pushing at his boarders. He gave a hard shove back, refusing to let the being in. It was the vampire, Jack recognized his minimal magic after the attack. Jack scowled at the use of magic by someone simply stealing spells. To actual magic users, that was like drinking blood without being a vampire or eating fresh hearts without being a were. In other words, it was disgusting. Jack glanced over at Pitch as he felt another hard shove at the borders and groaned. 

He wasn’t going to like this, but Jack was technically not going to leave the castle grounds. Jack sat back against the window cross-legged and slowly evened his breathing until he was in a trance. He then let his consciousness out to drift to the source of his growing headache. The north.


	7. A Conversation with the Glowing Vampire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack is rudely awoken and has a chat with an old friend of Pitch's.

Jack opened his eyes to see a dimly lit room, all furniture pushed to the edges and with only candles to provide light. The room’s only occupant stared curiously at Jack’s incorporeal form. 

“You’re the Sandman.” Jack said, recognizing the vampire that he’d glimpsed a few times in his travels. 

The vampire smiled and formed a question mark above his head.

“Who am I?” Jack asked.

The Sandman nodded and smiled in reply. 

“I’m Jack Frost, warlock extraordinaire.” Jack grinned.

The Sandman smiled at Jack and formed a picture of Pitch, then Jack, then the two together with a question mark.

“How did we meet, or why am I helping him?” Jack asked uncertainly.

The Sandman paused and then just nodded. Jack stared at him for a moment before realizing what the little man meant.

“Both?” Jack asked for clarification.

The Sandman nodded and smiled happily.

“He kidnapped me actually.” Jack laughed. “Chained me up and threw me in a cage.”

The Sandman looked angry, but not surprised at that.

“He tried to bribe me into binding with him, but I basically told him to fuck off. I don’t bind with anyone.” Jack shrugged.

The Sandman nodded at that, it wasn’t like any warlock ever voluntarily bonded with someone. 

“Then he threatened to starve me, but I wasn’t up for that so I made a bet with him.” Jack said.

The Sandman angrily clenched his fists and scowled, clearly upset with Pitch’s actions. Jack just laughed at the Sandman’s anger and shook his head.

“Don’t worry, I’m not the kinda person that’d let him get away with that. I challenged him to a game and of course he accepted.” Jack grinned. “Stereotypically he choose chess.” 

The Sandman’s worry increased, he’d never heard of anyone beating Pitch in chess. 

“He was actually pretty good, first person to take a piece from me in a long time.” Jack laughed. “It was fun.”

Sandy looked surprised and put up a picture of a frowning Pitch and grinning Jack with a chess board.

“Did I beat him?” Jack asked. “Well yeah, not even someone like him can beat me.”

That comment seemed to surprise the Sandman, but he gestured for Jack to continue.

“Well, we started playing games every day and I always won, so eventually I just offered a deal.” Jack said, continuing before the Sandman could ask. “I would make a contract with him.”

The Sandman looked shocked at that, throwing up questions marks and a very scary looking Pitch.

“He’s not like that with me.” Jack replied. “I considered him my friend, so I offered him a deal. The contract is on even grounds. He can’t make me use magic if I strongly disagree with him.”

The Sandman showed an image of a wall with another question mark.

“I’m fine with supporting the barriers, it doesn’t hurt me or anyone else really, it just keeps you guys out.” Jack replied. “Which is why I came here. Could you just maybe leave them alone?”

The Sandman frowned and formed a picture of the evil Pitch again them an eraser brushing the picture away and finally a bunch of happy faces.

“You want to defeat him for the greater good, I know.” Jack said. “But I’m not letting you through the boarders and I’m certainly not letting you hurt him.” 

The Sandman showed the picture of the evil Pitch again.

Jack shrugged and sighed.

“I know you think he’s evil, but he’s really not that bad.” Jack said. “I’m not changing my mind. I’m the Nightmare king’s warlock.”

Jack ignored how that sounded and filled it under, change phrasing later.

The Sandman looked at him sadly and showed a picture of Jack with his back turned to the evil Pitch, but looking at another Pitch holding flowers. Jack laughed at that.

“I doubt he’s a flower giving kind of guy, little man.” Jack laughed. “But I can ignore his bad side because you can see the best in the people you care about.”

The Sandman nodded and looked at Jack curiously. He then put up a picture of Jack and a normal looking Pitch with a heart in between them.

Jack tilted his head at it and then realized the obvious, glancing away and blushing slightly.

“Not many people have ever cared about me, Sandman. Is that so surprising that I would?” Jack asked. “Or do you think he can’t return the favor?”

The Sandman held up a number two, but looked a bit hesitant about it.

“See, even you’re not sure.” Jack said. “I believe he can. I’ve seen how kind he can be and how much he cares. He saved my life.”

The Sandman held up one finger and pointed to Jack with his other hand.

“Yeah, I might have saved his first, but if he was as evil as your colleagues think why would he bother to save me?” Jack asked.

The Sandman paused, obviously not knowing the answer to that.

“Anyways, I best be getting back before Pitch wakes up and freaks out. Stop poking my boarders, ok?” Jack asked. “I’m sure we’ll come after you soon enough with how pissed he is over the whole attempted assassination thing. See ya later Sandman.”

With that Jack was gone, leaving Sandy to wonder about many things, not the least of which that Jack knew Pitch’s name. A name that Sandy only knew due to his age and previous much friendlier run ins with the king. The king who never gave out his real name. 

-

Jack returned to the Nightmare king’s castle, slowly opening his eyes and stretching out his very stiff muscles. He looked around to see that Pitch was, thankfully, still asleep. The boarders were also in place and it seemed like the Sandman was heading his advice, all poking and pushing having gone away. Jack sighed in relief, that little man had really been giving him a headache, heck he’d been the one to wake Jack up.

Jack smiled over at his love before standing up, stretching his legs now, and walking back over to the bed. Jack snuggled back under the covers and up against Pitch, who unconsciously drew the warlock flush to him. Jack smiled into Pitch’s shoulder and closed his eyes, falling back asleep in seconds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter I have finished, but I am posting a squeal to my superhero au tomorrow if any of you want to read that. Next chapter here should be up by Monday though and you'll get to learn a bit about Pitch's past.


	8. Tears and Blood only Belong on the Battlefield

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pitch talks about his past and a monster is rising.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here's the new chapter. Not very long, but here you go. Hope you like it.

Miles away from Pitch’s castle there was a deep cavern, born from the tunnels below a fallen kingdom. While the kingdom was long lost, the tunnels snaking about underneath the sparse remains of the once majestic palace were still very active. There may not have been many people in them, in fact there was only a single person in the caves. What really filled the caverns was magic. It permeated the walls and was soaked into the ground, leaching all life from the caves and warding off any creature, living or not, that may seek to enter the caves. It was old magic, immensely powerful and nearly unbreakable by any outside force.

It was however, internally fragile. All it took was a moment of flickering in the spell and the damage had already been done. The seal cracked, and soon the monster inside was going to break free.

-

“Tell me about yourself.” Jack said randomly one day.

He was lounging in the armchair he had dragged into Pitch’s office, watching him plan out an attack on the guardians.

“What do you want to know Jack?” Pitch asked distractedly.

“What’s your favorite color?” Jack asked.

“The obvious.” Pitch rolled his eyes, moving a piece on the massive map set up across the equally massive table in the center of the room.

“Black?” Jack sighed. “How unoriginal.”

“And what’s your favorite color?” Pitch snorted. “Blue?”

“No.” Jack replied. “It’s the color that glints of the froth of ocean waves as the sun sets.”

“That’s not a color, that’s a cheesy romance setting.” Pitch laughed, looking up at his love.

“It is absolutely a color.” Jack pouted. “Alright, how’d you become a vampire?”

“That’s not a very pleasant story, Jack.” Pitch said darkly, suddenly stiff.

“Nor is how I became a warlock.” Jack replied with a shrug.

“Warlocks are born, not made.” Pitch rolled his eyes, relaxing again.

“Most are, but when have I ever fallen into the majority group?” Jack laughed.

“Never.” Pitch snorted. “So, what did you do to get ahold of magic? Seduce an angel?”

“I’ve never met one of them, not sure they exist, but I suppose they could.” Jack said. “After all, demons do. It’d be great if the angels showed up every now and then though.”

“Demons?” Pitch snorted. “And I’m sure unicorns do to?”

“Well, I don’t think unicorns do.” Jack said sadly. “It’d be so cool if they did though.”

“Demons don’t exist, Jack.” Pitch sighed.

“Yes they do, I’ve met a few.” Jack replied as if he were commenting on the weather.

“You’ve what?” Pitch paused, looking up at Jack again.

“Met demons before, quite a few actually.” Jack shrugged. “They’re basically douchebags.”

“How the hell have you met a demon?” Pitch asked, really confused. “Even if they are real…”

“They are.” Jack interrupted.

“They’re supposed to loath humans, vampires, giants, all other species!” Pitch exclaimed.

“Well, yeah.” Jack said. “They can only really stand warlocks.”

“So you met a demon who just up and decided to turn you into a warlock?” Pitch asked unbelievingly.

“Nope.” Jack said mischievously.

“Then what?” Pitch asked.

“You tell me about your past and I’ll tell you about mine.” Jack replied.

“It’s not a nice story.” Pitch said. “I don’t want to scare you…”

“Pitch, love?” Jack laughed. “I’m not an innocent little flower.”

“This isn’t just self-defense or vengeance, Jack.” Pitch winced. “I killed people.”

“And you think I haven’t?” Jack asked.

Pitch looked at Jack, shocked that his little warlock could actually kill someone.

“Oh my gosh, you did!” Jack exclaimed. “You really thought that’d I’d never killed anyone.”

“You’ve actually killed someone?” Pitch whispered.

“Um, yeah.” Jack said. “So relax, it’s not like I can judge you. You’re not going to scare me away.”

Pitch sighed and walked over to Jack, squeezing into the chair beside him.

Jack immediately wiggled into Pitch’s lap and curled up on him with a pleased grin.

“Tell me your story Pitch.” Jack said.

-

_Three thousand and some years earlier._

_Pitch smiled at his younger siblings, laughing as they danced around their little cottage. His twin had started a game of tag while Pitch was getting ready. Sandy always was better with the little ones. Pitch headed out for the day, bow over one shoulder next to his arrows and the rest of his hunting gear in his satchel._

_It took most of the day to track down anything worthwhile, but eventually Pitch was able to take down a deer. It took a great deal of effort to get the doe back to his home, but in the end it would be worth it. This would feed the whole family for a week or more. Pitch returned with a smile, getting back just as the sun set. He put the deer safety in his cool root cellar to preserve it and headed back inside to grab his twin. Pitch wasn’t too keen on gutting a deer single-handed._

_Inside it was strangely quiet, odd for the household of five. Sandy was usually entertaining the younger kids in some way or showing them some new skill. Sandy may have sucked at hunting, but he was a fantastic artist. He could carve anything from furniture to decorative pieces and even knew enough about sewing to give their younger sisters the basics._

_“Sandy?” Pitch called out worriedly._

_His worries increased when he heard no reply. Pitch began to search the house, finding on one until he reached the backroom. It wasn’t a large house, so it didn’t take him long to find them. Pitch stumbled back in horror at the sight before him._

_His family, the only people he cared for were…_

_Tears ran down Pitch’s face as he stared at the four bodies in the room, twisted up and strangely husk-like. Suddenly, a moan alerted Pitch to the fact that there were in fact only three bodies in the room. Pitch rushed over to his twin, the only body that seemed to have any blood left in it. Of course he wasn’t actually dead, but it looked like his throat had been ripped out. Pitch knew that no one could survive that, but was grateful for a moment that his twin was still alive._

_Pitch pulled Sandy up against him and cupped his twin’s face. Pitch started to ask who had done this, but froze when his twin opened his eyes. Sandy’s brown eyes were now glowing gold as if a candle had been lit behind them._

_“Sandy?” Pitch whispered._

_“Hungry.” Sandy growled, before grabbing Pitch’s throat and shredding into it._

_Pitch gave off a brief and chocked scream before his vocal chords were crushed and he could speak no more. That didn’t stop him from gasping weakly in Sandy’s iron grip. Pitch could feel Sandy gulping down his blood and a shiver of disgust ran down his spine. Pitch feebly reached up and slid his hand into Sandy’s hair, pulling as hard as he could, which was really not that hard._

_Sandy froze anyways and jerked back from his twin in horror. Sandy looked down into Pitch’s dimming eyes, absolutely horrified at what he had just done._

_Pitch smiled weakly up and him and mouthed a single phrase._

_“I forgive you.”_

_Sandy felt his heart shatter into pieces as his twin’s eyes slipped closed, but he remembered what that women had done to him. How she’d drunk some of his blood and then fed him hers. He was dying and now he wasn’t. Pitch was dying. Sandy slit his wrist with his teeth and forced his wrist into Pitch’s mouth much like a terrified warlock would several thousand years from then. The blood slipped between Pitch’s lax lips and slowly began to heal him._

_The next time he woke up he wouldn’t be human anymore._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and congrats to anyone who can guess who the new "Monster" is. Also, I have midterms the next few weeks, so updates are going to slow way down. Sorry, but I'll try to get a bunch done over Thanksgiving to make up for it!


	9. Forgiveness and Awakening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After hearing Pitch's story, Jack has an unexpected reaction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's so short, but it only exists because I needed a half hour break from studying. Next chapter will be longer, but likely won't be up this week. Hope you like it anyway.

“Wait, Sandy’s your brother?” Jack asked, surprised.

“Is that really all you got out of that?” Pitch sighed.

“Well, I have a feeling that you kinda went a bit crazy after that and everything else is really depressing so… yeah. That’s what I’m focusing on.” Jack replied. 

“A bit crazy is an understatement.” Pitch winced. “More like a few decade long killing spree.”

“I figured.” Jack shrugged, unconcerned. “Why’d you stop?”

“I met my wife.” Pitch replied.

“Your what!?” Jack exclaimed.

“Deceased wife.” Pitch said sadly.

“Oh.” Jack replied. “It’ll stop eventually.”

“What will?” Pitch asked coldly. “The pain that feels like I’m dying every time I think of them? Of my family? My wife? My daughter?”

“No.” Jack replied. “That won’t go away no matter how long you live. It’s the cost of love.”

“Then what?” Pitch asked, angrily whipping away his tears.

“Losing people.” Jack smiled. “One way or another that eventually stops.”

“Those are your words of comfort?” Pitch snapped.

“What else should I say?” Jack asked. “I’m sorry? That it gets better, cause it doesn’t. Not really. Less all consuming, but never less painful.”

“Like you would know!” Pitch snapped, shoving Jack off of his lap.

Jack glared up at him before standing up and brushing himself off.

“I’m going for a walk.” He said stiffly.

As Jack left the room he glanced back at Pitch’s angry form and spat out a bit of advice.

“I’d advise you to not talk about things you know nothing about.”

Pitch was left staring at an empty doorway, anger drained out of him only to be replaced with guilt.

-  
Jack glared at the edge of the castle grounds, sitting in a tree overlooking the stupid wall Pitch had around his castle. Jack never hated the “don’t leave” part of his contract more. He wanted to race away. Have the wind rushing through his hair. The freedom of it all.

The freedom of not caring really, but that was the problem. He did care. Even though he hadn’t wanted to. He promised himself he wouldn’t care again, but that didn’t change anything. He still cared and there wasn’t anything he could do to change that anymore.

Jack was just trying to be nice! He knew that anything else would have sounded artificial. He knew how those sounded.

“I’m sorry.”

You don’t really care. You’re not.

“It’ll get better.”

No, it won’t.

“They’re in a better place.”

How do you know that?

“They’d want you to be happy.”

They're dead. They don’t want anything.  
“Don’t do this.”

They weren’t your family.

“You need to move on.”

Is that what you did?

Then why are you dead to?

-  
Pitch stared at the door for a few minutes more before slipping out and searching for Jack. Pitch knew that something had happened to Jack. Just from the few things Jack had let slip Pitch knew that. Had Jack lost a family member too? And how did demons become a part of this?

Pitch froze as he felt a huge wave of magic shatter through the air. He forgot to breath for a moment, it was terrifyingly powerful. He’d never felt anything like it.  
Then he heard Jack’s scream from across the castle grounds. Pitch sprinted towards the warlock in his care.

-  
Sandy froze as he walked through a village in search of the vampire killing the inhabitants. That kind of magic wasn’t normal. He’d never even heard of magic that strong. It was somehow familiar though, like he’d felt it before.

-  
Bunny flinched as a shiver shredded down his spine, looking around confused. Something was very wrong, but he had no idea what.

-

Tooth flinched and slipped down to the ground in her floating castle. She had to get to Sandy, something was wrong and if anyone knew he would.

-

North frowned. Something was wrong. He felt it in his belly.

-

Under the castle ruins, deep within the tunnels some…thing smiled. It was finally free. 

 

Now… where was Jack Frost?


	10. Brother set aside your woes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pitch and the guardians are forced to work together to save the only person who knows about the powerful and threatening magic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is coming to a close, probably only about 2 or 3 more chapters.

Pitch was pacing back and forth frantically in front of his bed, terrified for the snowy haired young man on it. Well, not exactly young if Jack wasn’t lying about his age, but he looked like a teenager! Pitch was scared for him and that was rare for Pitch. He rarely worried for anyone, not after his wife and… not after that happened.

Pitch ran a hand through his hair and thought about what had happened earlier.

-

 

_After feeling that kind of presence, Pitch was sprinting towards where he heard Jack scream. It wasn’t hard as the warlock was still screaming his lungs out. Pitch sprinted out into the courtyard and ran over to Jack’s side. Jack was screaming and gasping on the ground below a tree that he appeared to have fallen out of._

_“Jack!” Pitch exclaimed as he pulled the warlock into his lap, trying to keep him from hurting himself._

_Jack looked up at Pitch with pained and terrified eyes. His voice trembled as he finally spoke._

_“He’s awake.” Jack gasped._

_“Who’s awake?” Pitch asked. “Jack, who’s awake?”_

_Jack didn’t answer, he’d fainted in Pitch’s arms._

_Pitch lifted up his love carefully and brought him to their bedroom, lying him on the bed with equal care. He did his best to care for the warlock, attending to him and utterly forgetting one important fact_ _…_

-

 

Pitch was still pacing in the room almost fourteen hours later, having drank nothing since the morning and ignored his entire kingdom. He’d also ignored that Jack had a very important job, not even thinking of the warlock’s magic in his frantic worry over the warlock himself. He was lucky that Jack had spoken to Sandy earlier or Pitch would be dead for that. Pitch sensed the spell too late to move an inch as before, magic not being his area of expertise.

He turned around, forming a sword of shadows and stood defensively in front of Jack. Pitch glared down his opponents, daring them to take a single step forward.

“Guardians.” Pitch growled.

Sandy stepped forward before anyone else could decide on violence and put his hands up in the universal sign of “I come in peace so please don’t kill me.”

“Why are you here?” Pitch asked, not relaxing at all.

“You felt it didn’t you?” Tooth said, stepping forward. “That… force.”

Pitch ignored her and looked at his brother whom was nodding and forming fireworks. The other guardians looked confused at that, but Pitch relaxed and nodded.

“Yes, the mass amount of magic being released.” Pitch replied. “It bounced around everywhere, but I believe that it was the strongest here.”

Sandy made a snowflake and a look of concern.

“Jack?” Pitch asked. “So you have met.”

Sandy nodded, smiling happily.

“He collapsed in the courtyard when the magic flew through.” Pitch said, looking away. “He only said one thing and… I can’t get him to wake up.”

Sandy looked concerned, slowly walking towards the figure on the bed as the other guardians looked on in confusion. Pitch stepped aside, but when Tooth stepped forward as well he glared at her. Tooth flinched and stepped back with the others. Sandy gently placed a hand on Jack’s forehead and frowned.

“It was the magic, wasn’t it?” Pitch sighed.

Sandy nodded and formed a snowflake then a mass amount of fireworks all aimed at the snowflake. Then the fireworks smashed into the snowflake and it began to melt.

“Are you saying he absorbed that kind of powerful magic? All of it!” Pitch exclaimed, horrified.

Sandy nodded, looking nearly as concerned as his brother. Looking at what Pitch had become after his last… partner died, Sandy did not want to see a Pitch that lost Jack too. Right after he was finally returning to the man Sandy remembered from their childhood.

“How do we save him?” Pitch asked, iron conviction in his voice.

Sandy paused thoughtfully before putting a broken snowflake over his head in a cage then the cage disappeared and the snowflake healed on its own.

“He can heal himself?” Pitch asked. Sandy nodded, but reformed the cage.

“But something’s preventing him.” Pitch translated.

Sandy nodded, frowning.

“Do you know what it is?” Tooth asked.

Sandy nodded and formed a tooth over his head.

“Me?” Tooth asked, confused.

Sandy shook his head and formed the tooth again hopefully.

“Ah!” Tooth gasped. “Memories!”

Sandy nodded, clapping his hands happily.

“You’re say’in that the kid’s memories are trappin ‘em?” Bunny asked, finally speaking up.

Sandy nodded and formed a cage again.

“Jack’s trapped in his memories?” Pitch asked.

Sandy nodded.

“How do we get him out?” Tooth asked.

“Why should we help the brat?” Bunny asked angrily. “He nearly killed me!”

“Bunny.” North said, soothingly. “Pitch said he knows something about the magic, ‘es important, yes?”

Sandy nodded gravely, indicating that they needed to work together.

“Oh no, mate!” Bunny said. “I’m not working with that monster!”

“Jack said that ‘He’s awake.’” Pitch said, reentering the conversation. “He looked scared.”

“So what?” Bunny snapped.

“I locked him in a cage. I threatened him and even against you… did he ever look scared?” Pitch asked. “The only time I’ve ever seen him frightened was when I was dying.”

“How did you survive anyway?” Bunny snapped.

“Jack.” Pitch replied as his brother formed a snowflake.

“What’s that suppose…” Bunny began.

“How the hell are we supposed to pull Jack out of his own memories?” Pitch growled.

Sandy pointed to Tooth eagerly.

“I can put us in Jack’s memories, sure.” Tooth said. “But I can’t aim exactly. It’s like trying to knock an apple off of someone’s head. With a blindfold on. And having to throw the arrow. In a sandstorm. During…”

“We understand.” Pitch said dryly. “But you can in fact get us in his memories?”

“Yes.” Tooth said. “I just have no idea where you’ll land. You’ll have to find Jack on your own.”

“I can do that.” Pitch said. “Would it harm Jack though?”

“No.” Tooth replied. “I only link your consciousness. He’s in no danger.”

“Then Bunny has to come with me.” Pitch said immediately. “I don’t trust him to not kill me while I’m helpless.”

“Wha!” Bunny exclaimed.

“Fine.” Tooth shrugged. “Pitch, Bunny and Sandy will go.  North will stay back to protect me.”

“Why Sandy too?” Bunny grumbled.

“Because if it’s just the two of you, you’ll kill each other.” Tooth pointed out.

Sandy nodded, agreeing to accompany the pair. He knew that Tooth was right. At least they wouldn’t get into a fist fight with him around.

“Let’s get started then!” North exclaimed, clapping his hands.

-

The spell was relatively easy, as it was Tooth’s ability. Just like Pitch and his shadows, it was one of the few types of magic Tooth was able to perform. Jack was a warlock, and while he specialized he was able to perform far more magic than all the beings in the room combined.

Within minutes Pitch, Bunny and Sandy were all inside of Jack’s memories. Pitch’s body lay on the bad beside Jack’s while Sandy was curled up in an armchair and Bunny had gotten the floor. Pitch was pleased, Bunny was not.

-

Pitch looked around his surroundings, which appeared to be some kind of a grand hall. It was nothing that Pitch hadn’t seen before, but not even his entrance hall was this uninviting. The floor was icy cold and marble, the whole room was cold in fact. The pillars, while grand and ornate appeared to have screaming faces pushing out of them. The detail was unnerving, it really looked like there were people trying to escape from the pillars. At the end of the hall was a throne that, while made of the same material as the pillars, looked almost to be made of ice.

“Where the hell is this?” Bunny snapped.

“I have no idea.” Pitch snapped back as Sandy shrugged.

“I’ve never even heard of a place like this, how could a kid have been somewhere not even on a map?” Bunny snapped.

“How old do you think Jack is?” Pitch asked.

“Like sixteen?” Bunny replied. “Cradle snatcher.”

“You’re a bit off there.” Pitch laughed.

“What do you mean?” Bunny asked.

“That Jack’s older than I am.” Pitch replied.

Sandy’s eyes went wide and Bunny’s jaw dropped.

“Th- tha-that’s impossible!” Bunny stuttered.

“He also…” Pitch began.

_“Jackson Frosti!” A voice echoed throughout the hall._

_“Yes, mum?” A very little voice said._

The trio turned around to see a blue-eyes, snowy-haired five year old staring up at them.

“Jack?” Pitch asked, reaching towards the child.

_“Come here.”  The voice called._

Jack hurried straight through Pitch, whom looked down sadly.

“We’re not really here, mate.” Bunny rolled his eyes. “It’s just a memory.”

Pitch glared at him and followed after memory Jack. Sandy followed his brother and Bunny had no choice but to come as well.

They continued through long, twisting hallways through what was clearly a palace until they reached a large set of doors. Little Jack was dwarfed by the doors, appearing even smaller. He tentatively reached out and knocked on the door which opened for him seconds later.

Inside was one of the most beautiful, yet strange women Pitch had ever seen. She had large blue eyes, much darker than Jack’s and somehow incredibly sinister. Her hair was white as Jack’s and flowed down her back in ringlets, tucked behind her pointed ears. She wore an intricate blue dress with bits of frost clinging to the edges. Her smile was bright and kind when she looked at Jack.

_“Come here, little one.” The women said._

_“Yes mother.” Jack said as he walked over to her with surprising grace for a five year old._

_“I need you to do something for me okay?” The women asked sweetly as she scooped Jack up in her arms._

“How sweet.” Bunny muttered, not meaning to.

Pitch smirked at him, although he too was happy that Jack had such a caring mother.

_“Yes mother.” Jack said, wrapping his arms around her neck. “What are we doing today?”_

The women carefully ran her fingers through Jack’s hair, looking and him adoringly. Pitch smiled at the scene, as did his companions.

_“Oh, nothing special.” The women said. “Just getting rid of some human filth.”_

The three froze at the comment.

Pitch looked at Jack’s innocent face as he blinked curiously up at the women.

_“But aren’t I human?” Jack asked._

_“How many times must we go over this, child?” The women sighed. “You’re a warlock, I could never keep a human.”_

_“But you’re not a warlock?” Jack asked sweetly._

_“Of course not.” The women rolled her eyes. “But I can’t have any children, so a warlock will do.”_

_“Okay.” Jack replied._

_“Now, more importantly, let’s go over another ice spell.” The women smiled kindly. “I have the perfect test subjects.”_

The doors closed behind the two and the trio was left to stare after the pair.

“What was that?!” Bunny exclaimed.

“I don’t know.” Pitch replied. “Jack’s never told me about his childhood.”

“I can’t imagine why.” Bunny said dryly.

“Where are we?” Pitch said before he could get wrapped up in the argument.

“What do you mean, we’re…” Bunny trailed off, realizing that they were no longer inside the castle.

The trio were standing in a courtyard. A very dead courtyard full of dead trees and dead plants and bones.

Pitch gulped as he realized that not all of the skulls decorating the edge of the pathway were human’s. Vampires, giants, fae, were, even animals were all their too. “What the hell is all this?” Bunny whispered, looking horrified.

_“Jack!” A voice screeched through the courtyard._

The trio all turned to see the same women from earlier storming towards them. She walked right through them and stood at the bottom of a dead tree, tall enough to overlook the courtyard walls.

_“What do you think you’re doing?” The women snapped._

_“What I please.” A new voice replied._

Jack easily leapt down from the dead tree, unlike the women having aged.

He looked about seventeen and wore clothes fitting for a prince. He even had a silver circlet in his hair.

_“What are you supposed to be doing?” The women growled._

_“My chores.” Jack replied. “I’m not doing them anymore.”_

_“Are you disobeying me?” The women growled._

_“I’m not killing creatures for you!” Jack snapped. “It’s wrong!”_

_“I am your mother…” The women began._

_“No, you’re not!” Jack snapped back.  “We are not related by blood, you bought me!"_

_“I raised you!” The women snapped back._

_“You trained me!” Jack replied. “Mothers don’t train their children to kill! Mothers don’t teach you deadly magic! Mothers don’t use their children as an executioner!”_

_“They’re animals!” The women snapped._

_“They’re people.” Jack replied. “Humans, vampires, were, giants, fae, warlocks, witches, demons! They’re all just people!”_

_“We are not like them.” The women said coldly. “I’m not a demon, like you, in case you forgot.” Jack hissed. “I’m a warlock, I was born a human!”_

_“And what did that family give you?” The women snapped. “Your father sold you for a bit of magic!”_

_“Just because my father is a bastard doesn’t mean all humans are!” Jack exclaimed. “I have a family and you took me from them!”_

_“They threw you away!” The women exclaimed. “I saved you!”_

_“I deserve the right to know them!” Jack exclaimed._

_“Fine.” The women said coldly. “If you want to meet them so much, go ahead. I’m sure you’ll be back soon.”_

_“I loathe you.” Jack spat as he walked away._

_“That’s no way to speak to your mother.” The women said sweetly._

-

 

The next memory was a relief to all involved. Realizing that Jack had been raised by a demon, which Sandy and Bunny didn’t even think existed, was a bit hard to swallow.

“Who the bloody ‘ell is this kid?” Bunny snapped as the trio found themselves in another grand hall.

This hall was warmer, its pillars with simple swirls and similar patterns unlike the ones in the demon’s castle. The throne was also less ominous, having a moonlit appearance and soft curves. Sitting in it was a blonde haired man, clearly the king, with a large silver crown on his head and decisive eyes.

“He’s a prince.” Pitch replied. “My prince.”

Bunny began to say something, but was interrupted by the memory Jack that was kneeling before the king.

_“I have returned, your majesty.” Jack was saying._

_“Jack.” The king whispered, looking away sadly._

_“Hello father.” Jack said, smiling hopefully._

_“But, how?” The king asked._

_“She released me.” Jack replied. “I believe that she is trying to prove some kind of point.”_

_“It doesn’t matter.” The king said, rising to his feet. “You’re finally home.”_

_“I’m home.” Jack repeated, smiling broadly._

The king then, suddenly, stepped forward and pulled Jack into an embrace. Jack looked surprised, and the king… he was crying softly.

_“I’m sorry.” The king whispered._

_“I forgive you.” Jack replied, returning the hug happily._

_“How could you ever forgive me?” The king whispered as he stepped back, tears still in his eyes._

_“You’re my father.” Jack replied._

A new voice entered the memory, young and curious.

_“Father, who is he?” A young boy asked._

_The boy was about nine, with short brown hair, and big brown eyes._

_“Jamie.” The king said, looking at the boy. “This is your older brother, Jack.”_

Jack looked surprised for a moment, but quickly covered it up. Jack knelt down and smiled at the boy.

_“Hello, Jamie.” Jack said, as he offered his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”_

-

The next memory was in a much nicer garden then the first, filled with trees and roses and daisies. Jack, now looking to be in his twenties, and a teenage Jamie were sitting in the garden together, talking.

“Are we ever gonna find the kid?” Bunny groaned.

“I’m sure we’ll reach there eventually.” Pitch sighed. “He’ll likely be in a memory involving whomever he was talking about before he fainted.”

He was secretly enjoying seeing some of Jack’s memories, though. He liked that he got to know Jack better, but he was also saddened that Jack had been through so much.

“But…” Bunny began.

“Hush, they’re talking.” Pitch interrupted.

This looked like a good memory and Pitch wanted to see it.

_“But why does it have to be me?” Jamie was groaning._

_“I thought that you liked Cupcake?” Jack smiled at his younger brother._

_“She’s nice, but I’m fifteen!” Jamie exclaimed._

_“That’s plenty old enough to get married.” Jack pointed out._

_“Then why aren’t you married, yet?” Jamie pouted. “You’re almost ten years older than me!”_

_“First off, I’m only eight years older than you.” Jack scowled. “And second, most people father is fine with me marrying are too scared to marry me.”_

_“That’s not true!” Jamie exclaimed._

_“I’m a warlock that was raised by demons.” Jack said dryly. “Of course, they’re terrified.”_

_“They shouldn’t be.” Jamie huffed. “You’re the nicest person I know.”_

_“Thanks little one.” Jack laughed as he messed up Jamie’s hair._

_“Hey!” Jamie exclaimed as he leapt away._

Jack grinned at him, forming a snowball and landing it in Jamie’s face seconds later.

_“No fair, I don’t have magic!” Jamie exclaimed._

_“All’s fair in lo…” Jack began, Jamie cutting him off by shoving him into the pond behind them._

_“No fair!” Jack exclaimed._

_“Not my fault you can’t dodge.” Jamie grinned._

_“Why you little!” Jack said as he splashed a large amount of water on the prince._

The two raced around until both had ruined their clothes and were covered in mud and leaves. They collapsed on a grassy hill, laughing together happily.

_“Feeling better?” Jack asked._

_“Yeah.” Jamie grinned._

_“Cupcake really likes you, and I know you like her back.” Jack said. “It’s a lucky match, you two can be happy together.”_

_“I think that might be true.” Jamie grinned._

-

Pitch smiled sadly as he watched the guests dance around him, laughing happily.

Memory Jack was grinning widely at his little brother as Jamie danced around the hall with his new bride. Cupcake was a noblewomen of high standing, and she was also not afraid of stepping up and getting something done herself. She had an inner grit that Pitch could appreciate. Jack obviously approved as well.

_“They’re a good fit.” A familiar voice said from next to Jack._

Jack turned to look at his father… whom didn’t seem to have aged at all. Pitch stared at the man in shock, he’d thought the man was human, but he couldn’t be human if he didn’t age.

_“Yes.” Jack smiled. “It’s a very fitting match, father.”_

_“Now we just need to find a bride for you.” Jack’s father said._

_Jack laughed at that, shaking his head._

_“Best of luck to you father.”Jack said._

_“I’m sure there is someone out there for you.” Jack’s father frowned._

_“I think not.” Jack said. “You need to give the throne to Jamie.”_

_“You’re my first born, the throne is your right.” Jack’s father said._

_“Jamie is a better pick.” Jack replied. “Everyone loves him and he has a bride. Most fear me and those who don’t hate me.”_

Jack’s father remained silent, knowing the truth in those words apparently. It made Pitch angry. Jack was bright and kind, he should be celebrated, not feared.

_“I’d be ill suited for the throne.” Jack said._

_“I’ll find you a bride.” Jack’s father said as he stepped towards Jamie._

Jack sighed and leaned against the wall. Pitch frowned at his love, saddened that he was simply watching the events when the Jack he knew would be in the center of the hall having fun. Jack was supposed to be the center of attention, he was meant to be running about. Jack was not meant to be standing still in a shadowy corner.

-

The next memory was a much happier one for Pitch. Jack was sitting in a squishy chair with a small child on his lap, reading a book with her. This Jack only looked a bit older and was smiling broadly.

The child had light hair and bright eyes, and was smiling happily pointing at the pictures and tracing the letters.

_“What’s that little one?” Jack smiled._

The child gurgled happily, too young to talk yet.

“Who’s the kid?” Bunny asked.

“His niece.” Pitch smiled.

Jack looked so happy, cooing at and talking to the baby. He smiled and seemed completely relaxed.

Suddenly a crash sounded from outside the room.

Jack jerked up and quickly tossed the book aside. He carefully scooped the child up and whispered a few words, carefully hiding her in a secret chamber within the walls.

_“Be safe, Sophie.” Jack whispered._

Jack quickly swept out of the room, hurrying through the halls. He entered his father’s throne room with the trio quickly following behind him.

Pitch had a very bad feeling about this. Something was very wrong.

Jack burst into the room before the three onlookers, and then actually stumbled back through them.

Pitch stared in horror at the hall he’d been in earlier. The hall that Jamie had gotten married in. The room that Jack and been happy for his brother. A room that Pitch was sure held good memories for Jack.

A room soaked in the blood of countless souls, bodies scattered everywhere and the smell… was already overwhelming.

Jack slowly stepped forward, staining his bare feet red.

_“Jamie?” He whispered._

_“I’m sorry Jack.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the cliffhanger, but this chapter was getting long and I wanted to post something before I went back to studying. Two midterms down, so maybe another chapter this week. Hope you liked it!


	11. Love and Hate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rest of Jack's past is revealed. Everyone makes a plan and hopes no one dies in the process.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure I'm happy with the end, but here you go. Sorry Jack's a bit bipolar at the end, hope you like it anyways!

Jack ran across the room, falling to Jamie’s side. His younger brother was soaked in his own blood, sitting against the wall.

“Hold still, I’ll heal you.” Jack exclaimed.

“I didn’t know he would actually do the spell.” Jaime whispered.

“I’m the only one that can do magic here, Jamie.” Jack said. “Now stop talking and hold still.”

Jack placed his hands on Jaime… and nothing happened.

“What?” Jack whispered, looking really confused.

“The spell is blocking your magic.” Jamie whispered. “It’s okay.”

“Jaime!” Jack whispered, confused and terrified.

“You’re the only one that can stop him, I know you can do it.” Jaime smiled. “But, take care of Sophie, okay.”

“Jaime, don’t do this to me!” Jack exclaimed, tears pouring down his face.

“I love you big brother.” Jamie smiled. “Don’t let father finish the…”

Jack stared at Jamie for a moment, looking shocked and horrified. The trio watching looked much the same. Then Jack threw back his head and screamed at the top of his lungs. Tears streamed down his face as he screamed at the world for being so cruel. Pitch stepped forward, trying to hug the man only to fall through his love.

“I’m so sorry, Jack.” Pitch whispered as tears ran down his face.

“Mate.” Bunny said, uncharacteristically gentle. “You can’t help him. Let’s find you’re Jack, yeah?”

Pitch nodded slowly as Sandy helped him to his feet. The trio looked down at Jack, waiting for the terrible memory to end… but it didn’t.

Instead they watched as Jack shakily got to his feet, flinching when he saw Cupcake’s body near Jamie’s. Jack unsteadily made his way to the throne, placing his hands on the armrests as he stared down at the seat.

“Mother.” Jack whispered, making all of the onlookers freeze.

“Hello, Jack.” A familiar voice said.

“Did you know this would happen?” Jack asked, not bothering to turn around and look at the women standing in the midst of the blood and gore.

“No.” She replied. “But I knew your father was a greedy man. He’s more demonic then most demons I know.”

“I’ll make a deal with you.” Jack said.

“No.” The demon said immediately. 

“What!?” Jack exclaimed as he spun around to face the women, eyes red and tear tracks still staining his face.

“I will not let you throw away your life because of that man.” The women said as she walked up to Jack. “But I will help you.”

“Why would you help me?” Jack asked.

The women looked down and sighed. Then she looked up and reached out, pulling jack into an embrace.

“I may be a terrible mother. I may not be related to you by blood. I may be a demon. You may hate me. But I am still your mother and you are my son.” The women smiled.

Jack let out a sob and clung to the women’s dress with both hands, relaxing into her embrace.

“I’m going to give you a gift. How undemon-like.” The women chuckled. “When I met your father I was desperate, so I agreed to take you in exchange for a piece of my power.”

Jack nodded, he knew the story.

“He broke our deal, but I took you out of spite.” The women said. “I hated him, but you… you were nothing like him. You were a sweet child. You cared.”

Jack looked up at his mother with wide eyes.

“I expected to hate you, but instead I came to love you.” The women said. “Until I found you I never knew what love was. It hurt when you took it away.”

“I’m sorry.” Jack whispered.

“I forgive you.” The women smiled. “I’ll always forgive you.”

“How could you?” Jack sniffed.

“Because you’re my son.” Jack’s mother replied. “It’s time for that gift.”

Jack looked up at her in surprise.

“What…” Jack began.

“Hush.” Jack’s mother said. “This is a blessing, but it is also a curse and I’m so sorry.”

“Mother?” Jack asked.

Jack’s mother leaned forward and placed a kiss on Jack’s forehead with tears in her eyes.

“I give you my crown, my dear son.” Jack’s mother whispered. “I love you, little one.”

Light lit up the room, blinding blue and so powerful that it pushed back the three onlookers who weren’t even really there.

“What’s happening?” Bunny shouted, covering his eyes.

“How should I know?!” Pitch exclaimed.

The light eventually faded away, leaving Jack standing their all on his own. Jack was staring at the space his mother had stood in with an expression of absolute shock.

“Mother?” He whispered.

Jack stood still for another moment before turning around and walking down the steps from the throne. A single tear ran down his cheek, but he quickly brushed it away.

“Thank you.” Jack whispered.

-  
The memory change this time was abrupt. The trio found themselves standing in the middle of an ongoing spell. Jack appeared out of the shadows and stepped before the figure clothed in black robes, decorated with dashes on moonlight. 

“Hello father.” Jack said.

Jack was still covered in blood, and had a dead look in his eyes.

“Jack.” The man said, looking up.

Pitch stared at horror. This man, Jack’s own father had done all this?

“He killed his own little ankle bitter?” Bunny whispered in shock.

Pitch realized that was true. Jack’s father had murdered his own son and daughter in law.

“You want to be immortal so much that you’d do all this?” Jack asked coldly.

“I am immortal.” Jack’s father snorted. “I want to be invincible.”

“I won’t let you finish this spell.” Jack said.

“And how do you plan to stop me?” Jack’s father laughed. “Even if you did, wouldn’t that make your precious brother’s death meaningless?”

“No.” Jack said. “Because my mother left me with something.”

“Your mother is dead!” Jack’s father snapped. “I watched her die.”

“No, you didn’t.” Jack said. “Because my mother is the women who raised me. The women whom you sold me to. The only parent that ever cared for me.”

“That demon whore was your mother?” Jack’s father sneered.

“Yes, she was.” Jack said. “But you, Tsar Lunar are not my father.”

“How dare you…” Lunar began.

“And you will never leave this place.” Jack said. “You’re immortal, so I can’t kill you, but I can keep you here.”

“You don’t have the magic to do that.” Lunar sneered.

“No warlock does.” Jack replied. “But a demon does.”

Jack looked up, his eyes now the same shade as his mothers and spread both arms out, palms up, letting the magic flow through him. Jack used the spell Lunar was already preforming and turned it against him.

“No!” Lunar screamed as the ground shook and the magic circle he stood in began to glow.

“Goodbye, monster.” Jack whispered.

Light filled the room again and when it faded coffin sat in the middle of the magic circle that still crackled with energy. Pitch blinked in surprise as he saw Jack, the Jack that he was used to seeing.

“Thank you mother.” Jack whispered, smiling at the circle. “I’m sorry, I love you too.”

A tear ran down Jack’s face as he turned away and walked out of the room.

-

“If he wasn’t in that memory then what memory is he going to be ‘en?” Bunny snapped with little aggression. 

After this whole ordeal even Bunny was feeling bad for the kid. Well, not exactly a kid, he acknowledged.

“In this one.” Pitch said. “He still has a promise to keep.”

The trio looked at the hidden safe spot Jack had placed his niece at the start of the night. They watched as Jack walked in and picked up the girl, cooing softly at the blonde child.

“Hello, Jack.” Pitch smiled.

Jack looked up and finally, finally, looked straight at the trio.

“Pitch.” Jack said. “Sandy, and even the assassin?”

“Doubt you’re one to judge mate.” Bunny replied.

Jack shrugged well naturally.

“I’m sorry for the inconvenience.” Jack said. “You must have been through a lot for me.”

“I’m sorry Jack.” Pitch said.

“Pitch, you know how I feel about…” Jack began.

“I should have never said what I did.” Pitch continued. “I should avoid talking about things I know nothing about, so I’m sorry.”

“I forgive you.” Jack said. 

“How could you?” Pitch asked bitterly.

“Because you’re my family now.” Jack said as he walked over and placed a chaste kiss on his love’s lips. “Now, let’s get back home.”

-

The group of reluctant allies sat in front of the fireplace in one of Pitch’s libraries. Jack was as far away from the flames as he could get, growing up in an ice palace meant that he wasn’t fond of that element. 

“Jack, ja?” North asked once everyone was seated comfortably. 

“Yes.” Jack replied. “And you must be North and Tooth. Thank you for saving me.”

“I didn’t do much.” Tooth smiled softly.

“Everyone did.” Jack smiled brightly at the group. “Thank you all.”

“No problem, mate.” Bunny muttered. “Suppose ya owe meh a bunch though.”

“Yeah…” Jack said. “Sorry I overreacted and almost killed you. I was just scared Pitch was gonna die. I’m not usually that violent.”

“Can’t blame ya for it.” Bunny sighed reluctantly. “Since I’m sure ya held back.”

“Eh?” Jack grinned, rubbing the back of his neck. “How’d you figure it out?” 

“I’m still alive.” Bunny replied. “Remember I was in ya memories too.”

“Hah, hah.” Jack grinned. “Yeah, I held back as much as I could in that state.”

“And here I thought you wanted to rip him to shreds for me.” Pitch pouted.

“I’m not saying I didn’t.” Jack replied. “I just figured it’d be better if he didn’t die.”

“Because you don’t like killing?” Tooth asked.

Jack actually laughed at that, shaking his head.

“No, I’m basically desensitized to that by now.” Jack said. “But hostages are more useful than bodies.”

Tooth blinked slowly at the angelic, innocent face smiling gently at her. Desensitized was right.

“What happened to your niece?” Pitch asked suddenly, thoughts of his own daughter running across his thoughts.

“Sophie?” Jack smiled. “I raised her away from everything for a while, but she grew up. Eventually I had to tell her what happened to her parents and she didn’t take it great. She hated dad for what he did.”

“She didn’t try to…” Pitch asked uncertainly.

“Free him?” Jack asked. “No, but she insisted that I teach her magic. I, of course, couldn’t as she was human. She didn’t take that lying down, though.”

“What do you mean?” Tooth asked.

“She went behind my back, made a deal.” Jack sighed. “I didn’t find out until it was too late.”

“She made a deal?” Bunny asked, confused.

“With a demon.” Jack clarified. “She wanted magic enough to sell her soul to the only species that could give it to her. She was convinced that dad would break free and wanted to be there to kill him when he did.”

“Wait, how do you sell a soul?” Tooth asked.

“You agree to give the demon your soul upon your death. No afterlife, reincarnation or anything else.”

“But what do they do with da soul?” North asked.

“They eat it.” Jack said bluntly.

“You mean a demon ate your niece’s…” Pitch began, horrified.

“No.” Jack interrupted. “I’d never allow that.”

“Then how?” Pitch asked.

Jack bit his lip and wrung his hands nervously.

“I taught her magic, she stayed with me a long time, but eventually found her own life. Had children of her own, a family. She named a son after me actually.” Jack smiled sadly. “And a daughter after her mother. They were human, and passed on a long time ago.”

“But what happened to her?” Pitch asked insistently.

“She couldn’t handle watching her family age and die while she did neither, eventually she asked me to…” Jack trailed. “I couldn’t, but I could take away her pain. So I killed the demon she made a deal with and before another could snatch it up I cast a spell.”

“What kind of spell?” Bunny asked.

“I changed her, if she wasn’t human then she wouldn’t feel those kinds of emotions.” Jack whispered. “I turned her into magic, a sentient element.”

“Wait, you changed her into a magic ice block or something?” Bunny asked.

“No.” Jack said. “I changed her into the wind. She always wanted to fly around like me…”

“Jack.” Pitch whispered as he reached over and pulled the warlock into his lap.

“She left.” Jack sniffed. “Everyone leaves.”

“I won’t.” Pitch said, petting Jack’s hair. “I’ll never leave you.”

“My father.” Jack sniffed. “He’s awake, he’ll destroy everything.”

“You beat him once all alone, now with help you’ll have no problem.” Pitch smiled confidently.

“Alone?” Jack asked, confused. “No, I didn’t defeat him alone.”

“But we saw…” Bunny began.

“My mother helped me.” Jack said. 

“Your mother?” Pitch asked. “But I thought she left, in the throne room.”

“No.” Jack said sadly. “She gave me her magic.”

“She gave you her magic?” Pitch asked.

“That’s why I’m not like other warlock, Pitch.” Jack said. “My mother gave me her life, she infused her magic with mine. She died for me, died giving me a curse and a blessing.”

“A curse and a blessing?” Tooth asked.

“My magic is more powerful than any other living creature’s in existence, but it’s a part of me.” Jack said.

“It’s a part of all warlocks.” Pitch frowned.

“It’s a bit different.” Jack said. “Think of it this way. To most magicians, magic is like a limb. If it’s removed it hurts like hell, but if you’re careful you can survive it. For me it’s not a limb, it’s my heart. If I lose my magic, I’ll die.”

“But warlocks can’t just up an’ lose their magic, so it’s not a biggie.” Bunny shrugged. 

“You know nothing of magic and warlocks.” Pitch sighed.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Bunny bristled.

“Magic isn’t limitless Bunny.” Jack sighed. “I use it and it slowly renews itself. The problem is, I can use too much in a single spell or series of spells.”

“Why do you think he looks like this?” Pitch asked.

“Wha do you mean?” Bunny asked.

“The spell I used to trap my father took a huge toll. I nearly died, would have if it wasn’t for my mother, but my appearance warped because I channeled too much magic.” Jack explained.

“So redoing the spell isn’t an option?” Tooth asked.

“It is, but I’d need to have a circle.” Jack said. “Otherwise the channeling needed for something like that would burn me out.”

“So we just need to lure him into trap.” North shrugged. “Is easy.” 

“You’d have to keep him there too.” Jack said. “For… a good minute while I do the spell.”

“So, we just need to trap one of the world’s most powerful warlocks, keep him in the trap for a full minute while you are completely distracted doing a spell that will have consequences either way.” Pitch said dryly. 

“Yep, that sounds about right.” Jack said.

“Yeah, sounds easy as can be.” Pitch snapped. “What could go wrong?”

“Everything.” Jack smiled up at him.

“You’re just a ray of sunshine now aren’t you?” Bunny snorted. “And moments ago you were a storm cloud.”

“Well,” Jack rolled his eyes. “To continue your extended weather metaphor, I’d say I’m very much like a storm. Plus, I have a circle to set up tomorrow morning. And a spell to cast that might kill me. I’m a little off center.”

“So soon.” Pitch frowned.

“My father will be here by tomorrow night, if not earlier.” Jack said. “Luring him here is easy as hell.”

“And why is that?” Pitch asked, narrowing his eyes.

He already knew the answer and wasn’t happy with it. Jack knew that and bit his lip before sighing and answering slowly.

“You already know.” He replied.

“You’re using yourself as bait!?” Pitch snapped.

“He’ll come after me no matter what.” Jack rolled his eyes.

“You are!” Pitch groaned.

“I’m not concerned.” Jack grinned.

“And why is that?” Pitch asked.

Bunny rolled his eyes at the couple, amazed that he was working with people he wanted to kill days ago. Amazed that his enemies were so bloody childish.

“Because you’ll be there to protect me.” Jack teased.

Those idiots.


	12. Dad's home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The big show-down with lunar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure if I'm happy with this chapter, but I hope you all like it anyway.

Jack stared out at the monster circle he had finished. From where he was seated in the center he couldn’t see the whole thing at once, it took up most of the castle. Pitch was standing a few feet behind him, looking like he wanted to grab Jack and whisk him far away from all this. Bunny stood by the only doors, next to whom Sandy stood, ready to spell them closed. Tooth and her husband stood off to either side of Jack, swords at their hips ready to be drawn at a moment’s notice. They were ready.

…But secretly?

No one would say it…

But no one thought this was going to work.

There were going to be casualties.

Jack was determined to protect Pitch. If he had his way he’d be doing this alone, but that was impossible. He didn’t want anyone to die for him, but he knew if it came down to it he’d make that choice for Pitch.

Pitch was dead set on protecting his warlock. He was not going to let anything happen to the only light left in his life. He had faith that Sandy would survive on his own, they’d ruled together for a time after all, but Jack would be defenseless. He couldn’t lose him.

Tooth and North were focused on the world as a whole. They’d protect Jack to save the world. Anything else was unacceptable.

Bunny was set on saving the world and after all that the warlock had been through he figured the kid deserved to live. That didn’t mean he was going to protect Jack’s lover, if it came down to it Pitch came last.

Sandy didn’t want anyone to die. He was overjoyed to see the brother he remembered coming back and didn’t want to lose him again. That meant protecting Jack as well. Sandy wanted to protect the world, but more importantly he wanted to protect his family. The family that was currently the members on this room.

Jack suddenly looked up at the door, pulling himself to his feet. He stared calmly at the door, not looking concerned in the least.  
“Hello Lunar.” Jack said, looking straight in front of him.

Everyone in the room other than Jack and Sandy flinched when a figure appeared inches from Jack. Sandy had taken the que and was busy spelling the door while everyone else scrambled to ready their weapons.

“Jack.” The man said with a disturbed smile.

“How did you escape?” Jack asked calmly, taking a small step back.

“Your seal cracked.” The man grinned. “I was surprised to sense you alive.”

“Ah.” Jack said, calmly turning away and taking a few more steps to lure his father into the center of the circle. “That does make sense.”

“I’m impressed with whomever managed to nearly off you of all people.” The man grinned.

“That’d be the owner of this house.” Jack said turning back around and gesturing to Pitch.

The moment his father turned to Pitch, Jack murmured the start of his spell. The circle instantly condensed to only include his father, all that magic sparking up around him.

Lunar looked down, unimpressed. 

“Really?” He sighed. “You’re trying to trap me again?” 

Jack had nothing less to say to that monster, he was too preoccupied chanting his spell under his breath. Lunar glared at Jack and then smiled widely. Jack hadn’t moved a step from where he was standing earlier when he began the spell.

“You can’t move.” Lunar laughed. “You move, you break the connection. I’ll give you points for creativity, using yourself to channel magic to avoid draining yourself dry- that’s clever.”

Jack breathed evenly and continued chanting. Just thirty seconds left. 

Lunar sighed and flicked his hand, throwing Tooth and North across the room. Bunny shouted and run forward pointlessly.

Twenty-five.

Bunny flew backwards and slammed into the door hard enough to warrant a check for concussions. 

Twenty-three.

Sandy rushed forward just as Pitch moved in front of Jack.

Twenty-two.

Sandy managed to barely block the attack while Pitch was flung to the side.

Twenty.

Sandy was smashed to the ground as Pitch struggled to get up.

Eighteen.

Jack stared up at his father as the light around the two began to warp and bend.

Fifteen.

Pitch forced himself to his feet, gasping in pain from the blow.

Twelve.

The light intensified as the final seconds trickled away.

Ten.

Pitch leapt forward.

Nine.

The light reached its peak.

Eight.

Jack calmly continued the spell.

Seven.

“Good...”

Six.

“Bye…”

Five.  
“Jack.”

Four.

Pitch stood in front of Jack.

Three.

Lunar’s eyes widened in shock as he missed his target.

Two.

Tears formed in Jack’s eyes as he finished the spell.

One.

Lunar screamed in anger and the room trembled from the force.

Zero.

Jack collapsed to the ground, his magic nearly depleted as his father was sealed away deep in the earth below their feet. He looked up and slowly forced himself to crawl over to Pitch.   
He placed both hands on Pitch’s chest and forced the last of his magic into his love. Jack channeled his magic and in seconds he realized that it wasn’t enough. His magic was too drained, Pitch’s wounds far more then he could hope to heal. Jack was surprised Pitch wasn’t already dead. Even with his magic at full power this was asking a lot, after all the number one rule of magic is that you can’t bring the dead back to life. 

Jack didn’t hesitate. 

Bunny shouted in surprise from across the room as Sandy stared on in amazement.

Oh, they were all so very screwed if this crashed and burned. 

Jack chanted a spell he’d never used before, never thought he’d use.

Jack smiled tearfully down at Pitch and whispered in his ear as his lover slowly blinked up at him in surprise.

“I’m going to trust you, Pitch.”

Pitch stared up at Jack and then threw his arms out to catch the warlock as he fell into his arms. 

“Jack?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only one chapter left, which I should have up in the next week or so.


	13. Much to come in a future ahead of us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And so everything is concluded.

Jack woke up slowly, his entire body aching like he’d run for hours. He blinked tiredly, instinctively reaching out to his magic. It was there, but Jack began to panic when he couldn’t reach it. He could feel it there, but it was like his magic was locked in a box that he didn’t have the key to. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling.

Jack jerked up as he remembered what had happened and looked around frantically. 

“Pitch!” Jack exclaimed, not seeing his love anywhere. “Pitch!”

Just as Jack was about to call out again the doors to his chambers burst open and Pitch practically flew to his side.

“Jack!” Pitch exclaimed, grasping Jack’s hand and pulling him flush against him.

“You’re okay.” Jack sighed as he snuggled closer to Pitch and clutched their hands above his heart.

“Thanks to you.” Pitch smiled, drawling back slightly to rest their foreheads together.

Pitch bit his lip slightly and let out a deep breath before continuing.

“What did you do, Jack?” Pitch breathed out.

Jack squirmed and tried to pry himself from Pitch’s grip, only to have Pitch tighten his grip and scowl. 

Jack sighed and relaxed back into Pitch’s arms.

“I did a spell.” Jack replied.

“Bull.” Pitch snapped. “He literally vaporized my heart. The only reason I didn’t die instantly is because I’m so old. Even then, I should have died in under a minute.”

“The ingredients were all there, so…” Jack sighed.

“What ingredients!?” Pitch snapped. “All that was there was blood, a dying vampire and a warlock with no magic!”

“Yeah, about that.” Jack said.

“Now, what did you do, Jack?” Pitch snapped.

“I cast a blood spell.” Jack said. “You consented, so it’s fine.”

“What kind of blood spell, Jack?” Pitch asked fearfully.

“I bound myself to you alright!” Jack snapped, blushing. “So you damn well better not screw me over.”

“You what?” Pitch asked, paling slightly.

“I bound myself to you.” Jack repeated. “It was the only way to save your life.”

“But what about yours?” Pitch sighed.

“I’m not going to die from this!” Jack laughed.

“You bound yourself to be my slave!” Pitch snapped. “I don’t want that. I’d never want that, no matter what.”

“I didn’t.” Jack said.

Pitch was already shaking his head and looking like he was about to bolt.

“Pitch, I’m not a normal magician!” Jack said as he lunged forward and gripped one of Pitch’s hands in both of his own.

Pitch looked back at Jack in surprise, eyes wide.

“The binding doesn’t affect me like other magicians.” Jack said calmly.

“Then what?” Pitch asked, slowly calming down.

“I bound our lives, first and foremost.” Jack replied. “We live and die together now.”

“Aren’t you cutting your life short that way?” Pitch asked in concern.

Jack shook his head and smiled.

“Magicians all eventually move on, no matter how powerful.” Jack replied. “I’d likely have done that in the next hundred or so years if I hadn’t met you anyways.”

“You would have killed yourself!?” Pitch asked in alarm.

Jack shook his head again.

“No, I likely would have joined my niece in the winds.” Jack said.

“But, now…” Pitch said uncertainly.

“I found someone I’d rather be with.” Jack said. “I’m sure Sophie would understand if she still thought in a way either of us could understand.”

Pitch laughed a bit at that, relieved that he had no control over Jack.

“Of course you still have control over me right now.” Jack said.

“I… that’s just…” Pitch sighed.

“My magic is locked up right now, you have the key.” Jack said. “Normally it works a bit differently, but you can hand it over.”

“How?” Pitch asked immediately.

“I love you.” Jack grinned. “So much.”

Pitch smiled back softly and gently cupped Jack’s face, kissing him just as softly.

“How?” Pitch repeated with a smile after a moment.

“Tell me I can have free control over my magic for all of eternity.” Jack whispered.

Pitch leaned forward and whispered the words in Jack’s ear.

Jack smiled as he felt his magic flit about freely, unrestrained once again.

He never thought he’d get this. He never thought he’d do this. Fall in love. Bind himself. Face his father again. Have this freedom gifted to him. Jack smiled happily.

“The others?” Jack asked as he leaned into Pitch.

“All fine.” Pitch replied. “I expect we’ll be doing nothing but speaking of treaties for months, but no more killing in the direct future at least.”

“That’s a good thing, Pitch.” Jack laughed at the vampire’s tone.

“Sure, sure.” Pitch said. “But, maybe…”

Jack laughed and leaned into Pitch, listening to him grumble and suggest increasingly ridiculous ideas. 

He could get used to this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked the story, thanks for reading it all and let me know what you think if you feel like it! Until next time:)

**Author's Note:**

> So, yeah. The next chapter will likely be longer, this is just the set up.


End file.
